“I remember one outfit in particular which involved stripey leggings and a stripey skirt with braces – you’d go blind just from looking at me,” explains journalist and Phantom FM DJ Edel Coffey. “My friends would never say, ‘You look really nice’, they’d just say, ‘You’re so brave!’”

Such bold statements, Edel admits, were a way of marking out her personality. And, although she’s “calmed down now”, it’s an aspect which she still holds dear.
“Individuality is key. I really detest Sienna Miller’s fashion sense because she seems to duplicate whatever trend is most popular without really adding her own style to it. Even people like Kelly Osbourne are trying to do their own thing, which is great even if it doesn’t always work. The real fashion criminals are the ones who wear whatever they’re told, even if they look like crap. Just as long as someone says, ‘It’s so this season, it doesn’t matter if it’s a poncho, just wear it.'”
On the other end of the spectrum is Edel's fashion icon, Debbie Harry from Blondie.
“I’d always have a music influence informing my fashion taste, because I’ve loved music since I can remember," she says. "Debbie Harry was important to me, though I’d never compare my fashion sense to her. I just love her style because it’s her own. It’s wild but at the same time was quite pop.”
Edel kits herself out in high street fashion – A-Wear and TopShop being two of her particular favourites – and shies away from the more expensive side of the market. But hell, if you’re going to enter that territory, you should do it in style – and there’s nothing more stylish than a pair of Pradas.
“I’m having this moral dilemma of whether to spend €450 of a pair of leopard-print Prada platforms. I went to buy the black leather pair, because you can justify the expense if you’d wear them a lot, but they didn’t have my size. I caught sight of these but then thought that I can’t exactly wear them to the office every day. Although I guess I can, now that I’m a full-time DJ.”
Will her new role cause her less stress over what to wear to work?
“I don’t think so. If I can’t go to the Spar without putting on my lipstick, I wouldn’t be able to go to work without dressing up. If I’m not happy with what I’m wearing, I get grumpy. So unless I want to come across like a sulky, angry cow on the radio, I suppose I’ll have to wear nice clothes!
And with that, she’s got her excuse to buy those Prada platforms. Sweet!b